The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1887-10-14
ANOTHER cHArswoRIH.

A Chicago s. Atlantic Passenger Train
TeIescoped by a Freight Near E0uts,
Ind.-Thc Wreck Takes Fire, Burning
the Imprisoned Passengers-Ten Bodies
Recovered from the DeSris-Fears That
More Lives Were Lost-Meager Details.
Hours STATION, Ind, Oct lion the Chi
cago L Atlantic railroad, three miles vest OF
here, Monday night at 1920 O'clock a fast
freight-train crashed into the rear of a pas
senger-train and from the wreck which this
collision occasioned ten httman bodies have
already been taken, and perhaps double or
even treble that number of people were
burned beyond all means of recognition
Two persons are fatally injured and num-
Der of others more or less seriously dis
abled This terrible catastrophe occurred
at the State ditch water-tank. Passenger
train No u left Chicago at 7:45 Monday
evening on time. Near Palmer station the
engine became disabled and could only
Drive on one side. At Boone Grove,
three miles west of the scene OF
the catastrophe, the train was two
hours late. Ten p1inutes after freight-train
No. As, carrying dressed beef, left the same
station The passenger engineer stopped
at the water-tank to take water, and had
come down from his cab to attelopt TO move
his engine forward with a croSbar far
enough to get his tender under the
water-spout when the freight-uNin
came crashing into the rear pas
senger-car The passenger train was
driven by the force Of the collision about
100 wards forward on the track, and then
ensued a scene never to be forgotten by
those who escaped from the wreck with
their lives In an instant the smoking
car. a passenger coach and the sleeping
car were on fire and the pas
sengers being roasted to death. They
were caught between the seats or broken
debris, and prayers and cries for help were
mingled with the roaring of the flames As
the accident occurred so late at night
and the place being over half mile
from any habitafjCn the work OF rescue was
left solely to the trafu~men and few pas
sengers who escaped uIfipjured. Even then
the heat was so intense thai these few could
approach the cars for only few moments,
and then they had to stand by paraIyzed
with horror at the awful scene
In few minutes the cars and their I'M
fortunate inmates were reduced to ashes
Nothing was left of tiio former but the iron
used in their construction and of the latter
only few chaIred bones to shew that they
once belonged to human beings SO FAR
nothing definite is known of the identity OF
the dead except the following:
Dr. Perry, his wife and daughter, aged H. Of
North Judson, Ind; young Irish woman and
Hungarian family named Miller, from Dundee,
Ill, consisting of father mother, three boys
and one girl, on their way to the OLD country
Only one Of these, Herman, young boy, es-
capped. and he was SO severely injured that he
According to the best estimate obtainable
saSvr-
less serious.
DR.. Perry was prominent Mason and an
ex-Representative OF Stark County DR.
Perry and his wife and child were damned
between the seats, and although the doctor
reached partly through the window, ne per
ished before aid could be rendered \
young man returning from Idaho to has
home in Ohio was caught under stove and
never moved.
The few remains of the dead were placed
in cases to await possible recognition, but q
strange proceeding on the part of the rail-
road officials was the hurrying away yester-
day morning of all the injured before tho
county coroner could obtain their tes-
timony. For the inquest however,
two witnesses were left, The young
Hungarian Miller who was too weak
to be moved, and young hish-American
named McCooe, who was missed in the hur-
ry While the railroad authorities give the
number of lost at from eight to ten, McCooe
thinks that at least double that number
must have persisted.
The conduct of the railroad officials in
hurrying off the injured passengers from
here is severely criticised and looks as il
there was determination to conceal the
real extent of che catastrophe. The coroner
went to Huntington, over fifty miles dis
tant, to obtain the statements of witnesses,
and the villagers seemed wholly at sea re-
garding the extent of the disaster.
thrilling incident of the wreck is re-
lated by the station agent It's the story of
young lady from Ohio, whose name could
not be remembered. She was one of the
passengers on the Inflated train, and when
the crash came, with presence Of
mind and energy worth Of man,
she seized an axe from its resting place on
the side of the car and hewed her way
through to a window. Her own safety as
sured, her thoughts turned to the helpless
unfortunates whose cries for assistance
sounded behind her. They did not call Ill
vain, for she rushed in the direc-
ton of the cries and personally aided
three persons from the wreck. She said:
Il did all could and would have continued
had L not heard Dr. Perry crying and
moaning piteously that his feet were burn
ing; then my strength gave way and
was compelled to deSist and seek assistance
myself
Superintendent Parsons, of the Chicago &
Atlantic road, was seen late in the after
noon gloomily pacing the station platform
He was extremely taciturn, and was very
sure that no more bodies could be, by
any possibility, under the wreck.
Only nine persons had been killed, he
declared and not more than eleven
or twelve hurt; none of the latter
seriously. He admitted that no hagman
had been sent back from the passenger
train when the stop was made Mr.. Par
sons said that the train-men depended upon
a semaphore light fully 1000 feet in the
rear of where the stop was made.
The conductor of the train had pulled
the cord for this light when he stepped
from his train. This would throw
the glare of a red danger-signal on the
track. The night, however, was foggy and
the engineer of the fast freight must have
failed to see the signal Superintendent
Parsons thought the accident would have
been very ordinary one had not the stove
in the sleeper upset. That caused the de-
struction of the sleeper, two coaches and bag
gage-car, and in the main was doubtless the
cause of the loss of life Coroner Scath-
erman, Mr. Parsons said. reached the scene
from Valparaiso about 11:30 o'clock a. m,
and, after viewing the debris and making
some inquiries, had found it necessary to go
to Huntington in search of witnesses The
wounded, Mr.. Parsons explained, had been
taken there as early as possible, and the
passengers who were unhurt, to the num-
Der of twenty five, had been forwarded to
their destinations without delay.
IOwa's Attorney General Asks the Gov
arnnaenf in Protecting the